Modern society is heavily reliant upon many different kinds of audio/video telecommunications services affecting all aspects of daily life. Television is one of the most popular sources of information and entertainment. Other sources of information and entertainment include computer networks such as the Internet, which today offers interactive shopping, banking, gaming, venues for discussion and social intercourse and many other products and services, home video games, videotape movie rentals and the like. These types of services provide a virtually unlimited variety of information and entertainment to practically every corner of the world.
However, these services have evolved independently over many decades and as such are provided in different formats and through disparate channels of distribution. For example, television signals can be received by off-air antenna, cable redistribution networks (CATV) and satellite broadcasts, but access to each signal source is independent of the others and requires specialized equipment and/or service providers. A television set can be equipped to receive signals from all of these sources, but only one at a time so some form of switching equipment at the receiving end is required to change the television signal source. Further, each of these signals itself comprises many channels, which complicates attempts to pool the services into a single integrated system. The Internet is accessible by modem over CATV or telephone wires, but is typically connected to a computer which is a completely separate viewing system.
Prior to the invention there has never been a system available for integrating these types of services, which would allow a user to instantaneously access any channel provided by any telecommunications or broadcast service using a single system. Moreover, prior to the invention there has not been an inexpensive system available which is interactive, simple to use and delivers any desired telecommunications and broadcast service over a single network of wires.